Tag Archives: Naif Al-Mutawa

It has been a positively massive few weeks in the topic of Religion & Comics, particularly in terms of Islam and Western culture, and a bevvy of links and stories bear highlighting, even en mass. In no particular order:

Al Jazeera has published the reaction of University of California – Irvine Professor Mark LeVine on the emergence of superhero Captain Israel by Arlen Schumer. LeVine says, “Turns out – as far as I can tell – this comic is not a prank dreamed up by the Daily Show’s writing team during their summer hiatus, or even more plausibly, by a couple of bored Hebrew School students. ‘Captain Israel’ means business! His task: Defend Israel at all costs from her most dangerous enemies!”

What is clear is that Muslims on the comics pages confront the conundrum of their flesh-and-blood counterparts: their community views them with suspicion. Lewis says non-Muslim heroes wonder, “Can they truly represent the American way? Could they really be on our side? When Dust joins the X-Men, these persecuted American mutants don’t really know if they can trust her. The comic book creators can have it both ways. They can present an altruistic Muslim hero, but also reflect the Islamophobia.”

Green suggests The 99 as one example of Muslim superheroes Lewis may have been trying to sidestep: “Lewis chose to put his head in the sand.” Meanwhile, that series was being featured elsewhere online, as part of The National‘s coverage of DC Comics’ recent publishing shift. Shot in February, the video focuses on The 99‘s creator Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa discussing the multi-national and inter-religious basis for the series in addition to its Islamic roots.

Lastly, in separate but not unrelated news, PR Newswire announced the new series Buraaq from Split Moon Arts. The title character is “a practicing Muslim, a regular guy who is turned into a superhero by traumatic events in his youth. According to SplitMoonArts, the mission is not to preach, but to provide wholesome family entertainment. The underlying message, they say, would help foster better relations between the West and the Islamic World.” Whether this is, as the PR Newswire headline reports, the first Muslim superhero is doubtful, but that claim does not seem to originate with SplitMoonArts itself.